WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security kicked off a crackdown on illegal immigrants in Chicago Monday — after local Democrats spent the weekend protesting President Trump’s threat of a federal law enforcement surge in America’s third-largest city.
“DHS is launching Operation Midway Blitz in honor of Katie Abraham who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run car wreck caused by criminal illegal alien Julio Cucul-Bol in Illinois,” the department announced on X..
“This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew [Democratic] Governor [JB] Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets.”
The statement concluded: “President Trump and [DHS] Secretary [Kristi] Noem stand with the victims of illegal alien crime while Governor Pritzker stands with criminal illegal aliens.”
ICE has been positioning staff to carry out operations in the Windy City for more than a week, leading sources to say that a crackdown was imminent.
The DHS mission is separate from any federal law enforcement intervention against street crime — and Trump has vacillated in public remarks about whether he will order a surge of agents to the City of Big Shoulders.
Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, also a Democrat, reacted with outrage over the weekend at the president using a meme to tease the immigration raids.
The “Apocalypse Now”-themed video, titled “Chipocalypse Now,” depicted Trump as a military commander with helicopters, fires and the Chicago skyline looming in the background.
“‘I love the smell of deportations in the morning…’ Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” the Saturday social media post said, playing off Robert Duvall’s “I love the small of napalm in the morning” riff in Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam War-set masterpiece.
Trump indicated Monday morning that the ICE raids do not portend a broader policing intervention.
“We’d love to go into Chicago,” Trump said in a speech touching on religious liberty and other topics. “We’re waiting for a call from Chicago.”
Trump did pressure city leaders, however, over the fact that six people were murdered over the weekend.
“This would mean that over the past number of weeks, approximately 50 people were killed, and hundreds were shot, many expected to die,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
“Governor Pritzker just stated that he doesn’t want Federal Government HELP! WHY??? What is wrong with this guy, and the 5% in Polls Mayor. I want to help the people of Chicago, not hurt them. Only the Criminals will be hurt!”
Pritzer fired back: “‘I want to help people, not hurt them,’ says the guy who just threatened an American city with the Department of War.”
“The President’s threats are beneath the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution,” Johnson said in a statement. “We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump.”
The ICE mission in Chicago follows Trump’s wholesale policing takeover in DC, where he federalized the local police force Aug. 11 and deployed the National Guard and federal agents four days earlier to crack down on violent crime and illegal immigrants.
Trump previously surged federal officers into major cities, including Chicago, in 2020 as part of the multi-agency Operation Legend.
Then-Attorney General Bill Barr said at a September 2020 press conference that the feds had arrested 500 people in five weeks and halved the murder rate in Chicago.
“Over the first five weeks of Operation Legend in Chicago, murders dropped by 50% over the previous five weeks,” Barr said. “August ultimately saw a 45% decrease in murders compared to July, and a 35% decrease compared to June.”
